The only issue being discussed in Tamil Nadu today is the Sanatan dharma and the negative impact it has had on the Dravidian society

Things are going out of control in Tamil Nadu as the duel between those who want to annihilate Sanatan dharma and its saviours has reached a flash point with a far-reaching impact on national politics. It all started last Saturday as Tamil Nadu’s minister for sports and youth affairs Udhayanidhi Stalin, who is the heir apparent to chief minister M K Stalin exhorted the people in the State to eradicate and annihilate Sanatan dharma which he alleged was more dangerous than dengue, malaria and cholera.

The first reaction came from a Sanatana zealot in Uttar Pradesh who “offered” Rs 10 crore to Udhayanidhi ’s head, an ideal example of hate speech. Police in Tamil Nadu have registered a criminal case against the hotheaded monk. But despite this action, a DMK leader ridiculed people in UP and Bihar for being illiterate and idiots. Constantine Ravindran, who had crossed over to the DMK from the Vijayakant-led DMDK in search of greener pastures, wanted to be more loyal than his masters and hence the statement that those who believe in Sanatan dharma are illiterate and idiots. A Raja went one step further and declared that the Sanatana dharma is more dangerous than HIV and leprosy. Raja is struggling to curry favour with the Karunanidhi clan.

Since Saturday, the only issue being discussed in Tamil Nadu is 'Sanatan dharma' and the need to destroy it from Dravidian society. The controversy is getting ballooned by the hour while pressing issues concerning the State have been taken backstage. The dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of Kaveri River water rages on despite the apex court order demanding Karnataka to release 5000 cusec water daily for the next 15 days. But Karnataka has told the Supreme Court that it may not be possible to release the stipulated quantity of water as ordered by the latter because of severe drought conditions in the upper riparian State. This is a cause of worry to farmers in Tamil Nadu as water for irrigation and drinking purposes will not materialise from Kaveri.

R V Giri, past president of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA) and a farmer himself, is of the view that the Government of Tamil Nadu was wasting its time and energy to divert the attention of the people from its failure to address the water woes. “This is nothing but a ridiculous view. Neither the DMK nor its family are going to make any gains out of the unwanted controversy. Farmers in the State are spending sleepless nights over the failure of the DMK Government to get the Kaveri water released from Karnataka,” said Giri. Not the Kaveri water alone. Entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu are planning to leave the State en masse because of pressure tactics employed by DMK politicians to exploit them for money and materials. The State, once a haven of small and medium-scale industries, has lost its sheen as the MSME sector feels that it is not possible to continue in Tamil Nadu to manufacture goods at compatible rates. The state of affairs in engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu is equally disturbing. Out of the 1,60, 780 seats spread across 446 engineering colleges, nearly 55,000 seats remain unfilled as students have opted to move out of the State.

The State has started welcoming LTTE extremists. Tulasi Amaran, a former LTTE leader masquerading as a social activist, visited the Rajiv Gandhi memorial at Sriperumbudur where the former prime minister was assassinated by the extremist group on 21 May 1991. Amaran said that he visited the site to pay floral tributes to Dhanu, the human bomb that caused the RDX explosion that killed Rajiv Gandhi. While playing cheap politics and the one-upmanship game, politicians are ignoring the interests of Tamil Nadu.

(The writer is a special correspondent for The Pioneer, views are personal)